Bumping. If you haven’t heard of it, it’s when you lift up just in front of a doe’s udder when she’s kidding to determine if there are any more kids. This is generally advised if some time has passed an an owner is questioning whether or not she’s done. I myself am not a fan and don’t do it. Having had my uterus “massaged” after labor by well meaning torturers–I mean, nurses 😂 😂 –I feel like routine manipulation of that area is just not a great idea. In more than a dozen years of kidding, I’ve felt the need once to bump a goat who continued to display symptoms of labor. I even took that one in for an ultrasound. In hindsight, I think she need calcium.
Instead, I go by behavior. A doe who is done generally acts like it, putting her full attention on her kid(s) and/or resting. Placenta will be hanging out the backside and there will be no visible contractions or pushing. Once the placenta is out, it is very rare that there is another kid and generally safe to consider them done with kidding. Exceptions do exist, but as a rule, once the placenta is out, they’re done.
A doe who is not done will often still display the behavior you associate with labor – that restlessness and up/down behavior, or she’ll skip all that and just head straight to pushing the next one out, which is the usual here. If your goat displays other symptoms that lead you to wonder, then bumping is appropriate, but it’s important to consider the discomfort we can cause by doing so and avoid doing it just because we wonder.
I’ve found that the more I get out of the way, the better my does are able to do what comes naturally and nature is pretty darned efficient.
So should you bump your doe after kidding? This is a personal call that only you can make, but I’d suggest leaving it as a last resort option when other methods of determining don’t yield results.
Should you decide to, you can bump your doe by standing behind her, clasping your hands together just in front of her back legs and gently pulling (bumping) your hands up and back. If you have short goats, you can also straddle them and do this process backwards, facing her tail while you lift. There’s more give there than you might think, but go carefully to judge the doe’s reaction so as not to cause discomfort.
If there is a kid still in there, you should feel something hard in her stomach area just under her hips. If there isn’t a kid, the area will fully give, feeling soft and squishy.
While this isn’t a foolproof method, it is a much less invasive method than an internal examination.
P.S. You may be interested in Blood Drawing Supplies and Pregnancy Tests over on my shop site. I carry single use blood pregnancy tests, as well as individual needles, test tubes and other supplies need to do your annual blood testing and preg checking. Your support enables me to continue my teaching efforts! 🥰
